Training in the village of sound

"I've heard tales of Otogakure, but never actually been there myself.." Hayden said to Kaseki as he followed his mentor through the trees of the bamboo forest. They had decided on taking time to train as Hayden was, as of yet untrained in any formal combat skills. Otogakure had been the secret village created by Orochimaru himself. Such a place was bound to contain information on any kind of training, though Hayden could not say for sure what sort of shape it was in now.

He decicded to voice his question, instead of waiting to see. It's been nearly two hundred years since the death of orochimaru, what has happened to otogakure in that time?"

Kaseki walked along side him, still trying to figure out what to call him. Perhaps Hayden was the boy himself.... or was he a man? It was hard to tell age when he himself was possibly one of the oldest creatures that lived.

"Ah, a history lesson?" Kaseki asked. It was probably useful to explain his past to him, as it could uncover some secrets of the world. Maybe there was power hidden in the abandoned labs. He was wondering how the world changed. Maybe it was peaceful. Maybe his Akatsuki wasn't needed. But who could be sure in this realm. "I can only say that this place has been long since abandoned. I would imagine that Kabuto would have used it for some experiments. But whose to say?" That name brought back memories.

Back when Kaseki was still a boy, his name was too Kabuto. It was an odd confrontation to meet him in the forest of death. But that was long ago...

"Now, being that it's been over two-hundred years, as you know, since I even set foot on the earth as a human, my techniques are long gone. However, my knowledge remains." he said to him, "So what skills are you itching to learn first?"

Floored for a moment Hayden stopped. He had not considered what type of fighter he would even be. Lifting up his right arm he began to unwrap the bandages wrapped around it. The cool wind felt good on his skin after being covered for so long. It's grayish color matched it's smooth texture and look. "What do you think, Tenno?" He asked aloud as he starred at his hand. He honestly believed he would never stop this habit, it was too ingrained now.

"For one i think you must look rather silly to Kaseki Talking to your right hand..." Tenoo said as laughter echoed in Hayden's mind. "If you wanted my opinion on how we should fight then i'd say taijutsu and bukijutsu would be suited well for us. You will not be able to make effective hand signs given the diminished dexterity in the hands. but you can still punch and grab things so have at it!"

Scratching the back of my head in embarrassment I turned now to Kaseki. We've decided on taijutsu and bukijutsu. Tanno happened to point out that my hands won't be dexterous enough o preform hand seals one this process is complete." He said, pointing to his right hand, which was covered in the fungal like armor.

Kaseki snickered, "It seems we all must discuss things with our demons, yes! Haha!" Kaseki laughed.

Then his gaze fell upon the ground. He hadn't used two two types of fighting since he was just six years old. But preforming jutsu without handsigns was his specialty. After all, it was through practice that he developed the One-Thousand-Half-Signs-Technique. However, with hundreds of years of disuse, he would have to start from he beginning.

"Now, in order for me to teach you techniques with a weapon, you need to have a weapon." Kaseki glanced over at the abandoned labs. "... let's find something... perhaps even a broken pipe will do."

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OOC: Small slip up in reverting back to first-person. But you are improving, which is great!

It took Hayden a moment to realize that he was standing in front of a dilapidated looking bunker entrance. Then he remembered that orochimaru had been quite secretive up unto his attack on the leaf and had built this complex to stay away from peering eyes. "I'm surprised that others have not moved down in here to capitalize on orochimaru's work before it decayed..." Hayden said as he descended a short way into the stairwell. He had descended about twelve steps when a crunch came from under his boot. half decayed bones turned to dust under his heel as at least four or five skeletons could be made out in the light.

"Never mind, looks like they did. But whatever was here may be long gone..." He said trailing off, his gaze rested on and old rotted belt upon which still hung a long dagger, now slightly rusted with age. He bent over a picked it up staring at it for several moments. This is the old style of knives used by the leaf shinobi, they must have come here searching for Orochimaru or his work. It's surprising that it's survived this long, but it should suit our purposes. Tenno's voice came from nowhere in his head to shed light on the blades origin.

Turning back now to Kaseki, Hayden showed him the blade."I'd think this will do for training, but i'd never take it into actual combat."

Kaseki followed him into the lab, only to have him find a rusted blade. "We are not practicing if you can use it, but how you use it." Kaseki explained. "If you can do what I'm going to teach you with that you can do it with anything." He smiled.

He thought back to running away from Konoha, only to find his dead brother on an abandoned path. He was always too late to help. He spent a decade in Kirigakure just trying to figure himself out. For a short time he was able to be a swordsman. But that was long ago.

"Do you know what kind of release you have yet?" Kaseki asked his fellow Akasuki member. He saw them all as equals. He figured he would lead with respect, rather than fear.

No, I did little in the way of formal training after my graduation from the academy. It was onyl a few months after that I was infected with Tenno...." Hayden replied as he looked down at his right arm. What could he have been if this hadn't happened... A jounin.. an academy teacher? This meant nothing to him now though, his life had purpose once more and it was not to dawdle on the past. Taking the blade in his right hand he faced his new mentor, grim determination showed fiercely in his grey eyes. "Teach me, that I may use any tool I can lay my hands on to our cause!" He exclaimed holding the knife up as a salute.


"Full of spunk aren't we... well, I'll do what i can to keep your arm strong and your mind focused." Tenno whispered into Hayden's mind likely the new determination in the young man.

Kaseki chuckled at the sight of the man. To him, he appeared as a child, curious in the ways of war. With this step, Kaseki could lead everyone into a world of peace. This single person gave him hope... hope was all he needed.

"Strike me."

He said his words harshly and with scorn. He had been mentally preparing himself for any moment that he would make. He wouldn't be harmed none by Hyaden, but it was good practice. He wasn't trying to get him to actually land his mark, but to see where he would try to aim for first. All Kaseki had to do was take a step, and reach out to his arm to stop him. It wasn't hard, his reflexes were years beyond Hayden's. Then from there, Kaseki could conjure his training plan.

"The weakest point, he's not guarding and he's not at the ready. if we were behind him I'd say his throat, but we are at the front. Cut off his offensive capabilities." Tenno coached from within Hayden's mind.

Leaping forward with the blade held in his left hand Hayden dashed the short distance between the two and made a slash for Kaseki's right arm. He was not sure which was his primary arm, but if he severed the muscles and cords of the right arm, then any attempt at jutsu would be useless. The rusty sheen of the blade caught in his eye as he began his slice. The air whistled slightly.

His hand shot up and gripped the blade, freezing Hayden from any movement. He did admire the attempt, but that was foolish on his own part. His left hand had reached across his chest to stop the rusted blade, and that was enough to halt the attack.

"Good Technique, horrible tactic." Kaseki released the blade with a slight push, returning the weapon back into the direction it came from. "I am a puppet. I am a plant. There would be no tendons to tear, nor veins to sever. If you had made and upward swing and lodged the blade between my head and chest, I would be unable to turn. That would make a puppet user like me to free my hands to move the blade." Kaseki examined it all in a moments notice. He had to get everyone in shape. If they were going to fight anything, they were all in trouble.

"Now, if you put some force behind your weapon, maybe you could pierce my structure. Until then, you're better off searching these labs for a larger blunt weapon."

Standing there for a moment, Hayden tried to come to grips with just how far off he was from his leader. The difference in speed and power staggered him. Tossing the knife down without a word he ventured over to to the entrance. A panel hung loosely from one side and inside were ancient lamps, in case the power ever failed. Grabbing one he lit it and entered the facility.

"Take heart Hayden, even in failure you can still learn. Do not treat your sensai as a human enemy, but as a puppet... he has no blood to spill nor muscles to rend. He does, however, have 'bones' to break. Not only that, his movements will be more ridged then yours. use that to your advantage next time." Tenno offered this kind advice as Hayden descended deeper into the labyrinth. Every fifty feet or so he'd mark the wall with his hand in order to find his way back up.

After several minutes of searching he came to a small boiler room, meant to provide steam to some machine or another. A larger section of it was rusted out, but one spot in particular looked clean. Hayden went to work, using his right hand to rip at a pipe, just before the bend. Finally coming loose from the wall he returned to the surface with a 4 and a half foot long length of pipe, bent a one end.

Kaseki wandered down the halls following his member. His silence was the loudest cry for help, and he would answer. With years upon years over anyone that existed, Kaseki played his role of the elder.

He peered through the opening of where a door would be into the room that his member now ventured in. He wondered how he would take it, and to find him trying to get a pipe was enough to tell Kaseki his answer. "Put all your energy into it." Kaseki's voice echoed, "Think of only the piece you want. Think of it not as a pipe, but an extension of your being."

He would figure it out.

Soon.

His frustration was now peeked. Hayden lashed out in anger, his hand once again assuming the form of the clawed gauntlet. The pipe fell to the ground with a clatter. Picking it up with his left hand he turned to his mentor, then looked down at his hand. Already it was reverting back to it's normal form. I wish I could make it stay that way, then i wouldn't have to scrounge for rusted junk just to train with..." Hayden sighed and tried to relax for a bit. The only time he could every make the claws come out is when he was angry, if only he could do it when he was calm.

"You need to feed it... It's an active transformation and requires some form of energy. Your anger causes your chakara to flow all over your body. You need to learn to flow it where you want, whenever you want. Then you may unlock even more forms for me." Tenno replied, education Hayden once again on how untrained he was in every aspect, or at least how he had forgotten the simplest of things like chakara flow and control. "I'll do better.... I have to do better..

"The answer is puppetry. That is precise chakra control. Should you learn to attach chakra threads to weapons and make anything become long range." He looked at him while he held the pipe. "You're woven from the same fabric. Your body is like a base puppet, with modifications, some parts become stronger than the others." He lifted his hand to point at the pipe.

"That pipe is as strong as the machine it cam from. If you focus your chakra on that pipe, you can destroy the equipment with sheer force. Go ahead. Try it." Kaseki said, making notes of every little thing he did. Every movement told a story.

Life was poetry. Every movement a line. Each action was a stanza. Life was prose.

"Bukijutsu is the mastery of weapons, your chakara is just as much of a weapon as that pipe." Tenno stated as Hayden turned once more to the iron boiler. "It'd be so much more helpful if you could here him too, kaseki. He seems to echo your words even as you say them." hayden said, raising the iron pipe over his had and swinging at the boiler. A resounding gong echoed throughout the room and down the hallway. He tried again this time focusing on his chakara at it's thickest point, the stomach. He willed it to move towards his right arm. As he did the armor on his right hand reacted, changing shape back into it's claw form. With the sudden change he dropped the pipe to the floor.

It seems... I'll have to get used to using weapons with my left hand, instead of my right. At least until i learn better control of Tenno and my chakara. Hayden said as he bent over and picked up the pipe, starting the process over again. This time he focused his chakara into his left hand instead of his right, and then from his left hand into the pipe. Swinging with all he could summon he bashed the pipe into the side of the boiler. It ripped through about half of the way before becoming lodged in the metal.

"I can hear him fine, I choose not to listen." Kaseki said. He rested his back against the tiles of the abandoned building. He watched as Hayden swung his pipe smashing into the boiler.

Kaseki slid down the wall and sat on the floor has he observed. That meant he was on the right path to learning Kenjutsu, and perhaps maybe in time he would give him Kuribocho. Maybe.

"Now that you have done it once, I ask you do it again." Kaseki said, "This place needs to be in ruins. We don't need more experimenting on innocents." Kaseki glanced around the room, looking for something of use. His eyes returned to Hayden as he found nothing to take with him. "Now, once he find out your chakra nature, we can really start to destroy things... for practice."

"If you say so..." Hayden replied, a bit weary. He didn't understand why he'd want the place trashed now. Considering that anu nation had had two hundred years to search the place, but that was not his decision. it was training and it had to be done for him to grow stronger. Wrestling the pipe from the boiler he proceeded to the next room in which sat a machine roughly four feet high. it looked like a more primitive form of the chakara scanning tool used on him after his infection began to spread. "I think we are a few years to late to keep the secret of this place for, at the very least, the leaf shinobi..." Hayden stated before taking the pipe to the machine, careful to always imbue it with his chakara first. It seemed that with each strike the pipe refused to travel very far through with it was striking but also, it did not receive even a scratch.

"Ah, but see how even now we are able to learn from this ruin?" Kaseki argued, "A legacy lasts as only as their work. This isn't not a legacy." Kaseki stood up, only to look down the hall.

"Destroy it all. You'll soon learn the reason why." He took steps passed the doorway. He was going to use some of the secret tunnels for good measure. After all, Orochimaru had camps all over the place. He would wander through them and pop up anywhere. Everything was going to be a one-way trip for him.

But for now... He had to train the other one... for now.

[/exitthread]

And so, Hayden was left to wander the facility alone, destroying anything left of value there. After going through several more doors he came to a room inexplicably covered in plants. He could not fathom how the plants had survived in the dark for so many years, but he thought better of destroying them. If such things could survive for so long, who was he to come along and remove them for their quiet peace. in the dark.

After several hours of hard work Hayden finally emerged, blinking, into the sun light. It was now the twilight hour and he was tired and sore all over, but the day had been quite productive. He believed he could not channel his chakara effectively into either his left hand weapon or in Tenno on the right. Though he could not do both at once. He went around and collected some firewood before settling in for the night underneath an improvised lean-to. He had no idea what he was to do next other then train, but he rested soundlt that night knowing that if his master needed him he would be summoned.